Don’t let November be like Christmas for burglars

Stephanie Bateman

Humberside Police are urging homeowners to do their bit in preventing burglaries this November as they prepare for Christmas, whether that is home security before the go out for festive nights out or consideration to storing presents out of view.

Overall burglary is down across the force by over 150 offences*, but nationally November is often a peak for offending with darker nights and more opportunities for thieves with Christmas approaching.

Detective Chief Inspector Jon Cross the burglary lead for the force said: “November can see burglars attempting to take advantage of the darker nights and attempting to take the gifts that people have bought for loved ones for Christmas.

“To prevent this I am urging everyone in Humberside area to take steps to ensure they stop their homes from being targeted by considering their door and window security or even taking steps to make their homes look occupied even when on nights out or away visiting family. These seemingly simple measures really do go a long way towards ensuring that your house is a hostile environment for burglars.”

“We will of course continue to do our bit with targeted patrolling of neighbourhood to deter and prevent offending, responding to crime being committed in order to identify those targeting communities, focusing activity on the second hand goods market that fuels demand and managing prolific offenders so they don’t re-offend.”

The advice that we would like people to adopt include:

• Keeping your home secure with doors and windows locked – amazingly a quarter of all burglaries are due to offenders coming through open windows or doors.

• Store Christmas gifts out of sight until Christmas day.

• Be a good neighbour, report anything suspicious in the area to the police on 101.

• The best burglary deterrent is to make the home look occupied at all times even when you are out or away. This can be done by using time switches on your lights and a radio or asking a trusted friend to close/open your curtains for you.

• Remember not to leave high value goods from being on display.

The public should support the police by calling them if they see people acting suspiciously in their community, if there is a burglary in progress or if they have details about those involved in criminality. This can be done this using 999 in an emergency, 101 in a non-emergency or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.